It is the time again when I do the bi-annual update on my daughter's bilingual skills. Hahna just recently turned 2 and she is so much fun (well, OK the potty training is not that much fun, I admit…)! If you recall I called the last post "The bitter-sweet results so far" because at 18 months-of-age she was speaking mostly English. I am ecstatic to say that has changed. She is totally bilingual now! It started at about 20 months-of-age when she began repeating almost everything I said, including tremendously loooong words like 'vodopad' (waterfall), 'skluzavka' (slide) or 'ananas' (pineapple). She did the same thing in English with her English-speaking daddy and babi (grandma). She now speaks to me solely in Czech and switches to English with no problem when when she talks to daddy. And when we are all together, she talks also mostly in English, with a few Czech words here and there.
Where it gets a bit tricky and (unfortunately) confusing for Hanicka is when we meet with my American girlfriends and their kids. She does not switch to English and keeps talking Czech so I have to help her a bit, meaning that I talk to her in English. She seems to get it though. I am just so looking forward to the time when I will be able to explain to her why is it we are all of a sudden switching to English, so that our American friends can understand us. Right now, since she is still so young, I do feel like I am doing something wrong by confusing her this way. But then again, I think I may be over-thinking the whole thing a bit.
Couple points helped her strengthen her Czech language abilities which I want to share with you: 1/ Her Czech grandmother came for a 2-week visit and 2/ we go to a Czech playgroup about once a week where my friends and I try to make a point of reading at least one Czech book and/or sing some Czech songs (and you can image the looks from the people who walk by:0).
Bottom line, as I mentioned earlier, if you are trying to teach your kid your native tongue, be diligent at your pursuit but don't sweat it because the results will come.
CZ: Uz zase uplynulo pul roku od te doby, co jsem naposledy psala o bilingvnich pokrocich me dcery Hanicky. Mozna ze si jeste pamatujete, ze jsem posledni clanek na toto tema nazvala "Zatim smisene vysledky" a to proto, ze v 18-ti mesicich mluvila do vetsi miry pouze anglicky. Dnes jsem stastna jako blecha, protoze se situace naprosto zmenila – Hanicka je totiz uplne dvojjazycne dite! Zacalo to vsechno asi kdyz ji bylo kolem 20-ti mesicu a to kdyz zacala vsechno opakovat. Opakovala jednoducha slova, ale take obtizna slova jako 'vodopad', 'ananas' nebo 'skluzavka'! Samozrejme, ze delala to same v anglictine s tatinkem a babickou. Dnes se mnou mluvi pouze cesky a bez problemu prepne do anglictiny, kdyz se bavi s tatinkem nebo babickou. Kdyz jsme v mistnosti vsichni dohromady, mluvi z 99% anglicky, i kdyz se ji sem tam nejake to ceske slovicko nekdy priplete.
Situace se stane trosku obtiznejsi, jakmile se sejdeme s mymi americkymi kamaradkami a jejich detmi. Hanicka sama do angictiny neprepne a tak ji musim trosku pomoci a zacnu s ni mluvit anglicky. Nastesti uz za par mesicu bude schopna pochopit, kdiz ji reknu, ze ted jsme s nasimi americkymi kamarady a proto musime mluvit anglicky, aby nam rozumneli. Uz se na tuto dobu tesim, protoze mi trha srdce, kdyz vim, ze ji matu…Nebo to spis az moc analizuji.
Par dalsich veci Hanicce pomohlo a to: 1/Na 2 tydny tu byla na navsteve jeji ceska babicka 2/ Asi 1-krat tydne se tu s ceskymi maminkami sejdeme na hristi. Take se snazime budto zpivat ceske pisnicky (umite si asi predstavit vyrazy kolemjdoucich) nebo cteme ceske knizky.
V zaveru bych chtela opet podotknout, ze jestlize se snazite docilit to co ja a naucit sve deti vasi materske mluve, budte vytrvali a dusledni a nestresujte se, protoze dobre vysledy budou nasledovat. A brzy.
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